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▼ Putin Looks to Play on U.S.-Japan Jitters
- Category:Event
MOSCOW—Russia’s diplomatic outreach to Japan over a 70-year territorial dispute is aimed partly at securing a more valuable prize for the Kremlin: new political inroads with one of the U.S.’s biggest regional allies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Moscow on Tuesday, their third meeting in three months, but experts said any hopes of resolving the dispute over the Kuril Islands—an important objective for Mr. Abe—remained slim.
“Although it is not easy to solve the problems left over 70 years after the war, we have to do so,” Mr. Abe said after the talks with Mr. Putin on Tuesday.
“The Russian leadership realizes it’s helpful to keep this dispute alive and maintain leverage over Japan,” said James Brown, an expert on Russian-Japanese ties at Temple University in Tokyo.
Over the years, Mr. Putin’s discussions with Japan have borne fruit politically. Japan imposed some of the weakest sanctions among the Group of Seven following the Ukraine crisis and was the only member not to expel any diplomats after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the U.K. last year.
“Keeping the prospect of the territorial deal a distant prospect is very helpful to encourage Abe to distance himself from the rest of the G-7,” Mr. Brown said.
The talks were held at a time of deep uncertainty between the U.S. and Japan.
Mr. Abe has tried to curry favor with President Trump—he gave him a gold-colored golf club on their first meeting—but ties between Japan and the U.S. have been strained by Mr. Trump’s complaints over trade.
Washington is in the process of hashing out a new trade deal with Tokyo, aimed at reducing the U.S.’s trade deficit with Japan.
At the same time, Mr. Abe has warmed to Moscow’s offers to put momentum back in talks on the island. He told Mr. Putin last fall that no U.S. forces would be stationed on the islands, Japanese newspaper Asahi reported.
“The major prize is creating this atmosphere of mutual suspicion between the U.S. and Japan in particular when there are a number of factors that are pushing the two countries apart,” said Alexander Gabuev, chair of the Russia in Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that a swift deal was unlikely. The issue of ownership of the islands has prevented Russia and Japan from ever signing a peace treaty after World War II. After the talks, Messrs. Putin and Abe gave statements to the press, but offered no indication there had been any breakthroughs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Moscow on Tuesday, their third meeting in three months, but experts said any hopes of resolving the dispute over the Kuril Islands—an important objective for Mr. Abe—remained slim.
“Although it is not easy to solve the problems left over 70 years after the war, we have to do so,” Mr. Abe said after the talks with Mr. Putin on Tuesday.
“The Russian leadership realizes it’s helpful to keep this dispute alive and maintain leverage over Japan,” said James Brown, an expert on Russian-Japanese ties at Temple University in Tokyo.
Over the years, Mr. Putin’s discussions with Japan have borne fruit politically. Japan imposed some of the weakest sanctions among the Group of Seven following the Ukraine crisis and was the only member not to expel any diplomats after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the U.K. last year.
“Keeping the prospect of the territorial deal a distant prospect is very helpful to encourage Abe to distance himself from the rest of the G-7,” Mr. Brown said.
The talks were held at a time of deep uncertainty between the U.S. and Japan.
Mr. Abe has tried to curry favor with President Trump—he gave him a gold-colored golf club on their first meeting—but ties between Japan and the U.S. have been strained by Mr. Trump’s complaints over trade.
Washington is in the process of hashing out a new trade deal with Tokyo, aimed at reducing the U.S.’s trade deficit with Japan.
At the same time, Mr. Abe has warmed to Moscow’s offers to put momentum back in talks on the island. He told Mr. Putin last fall that no U.S. forces would be stationed on the islands, Japanese newspaper Asahi reported.
“The major prize is creating this atmosphere of mutual suspicion between the U.S. and Japan in particular when there are a number of factors that are pushing the two countries apart,” said Alexander Gabuev, chair of the Russia in Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that a swift deal was unlikely. The issue of ownership of the islands has prevented Russia and Japan from ever signing a peace treaty after World War II. After the talks, Messrs. Putin and Abe gave statements to the press, but offered no indication there had been any breakthroughs.
Kunashiri island, part of the Kuril Islands under Russian control, as seen from Hokkaido, Japan.
Photo: kazuhiro nogi/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Mr. Abe has made resolving the dispute a personal endeavor. His father, as foreign minister in the 1980s, spearheaded his own diplomatic push to recover the islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, which have been occupied by the Soviet Union and then Russia since the end of World War II.
Mr. Abe hopes he can sweeten the deal by boosting Japanese business in Russia’s vast Far East, the far-flung Pacific territory where Moscow is trying to increase investment and living standards after decades of relative neglect.
Japan promised 1.16 billion rubles ($17.5 million) for the creation of a storage center for radioactive waste, Russian state news agencies reported. Still, unlike China’s leadership—which can make deals and promise private investment with the stroke of a pen—Japan has a tougher job selling investment in Russia to its business elite, which has been turned off by sanctions imposed by the West and slow growth.
Domestic factors in Russia have also played against the odds of a quick deal. Mr. Putin’s approval ratings among Russians have fallen to their lowest since 2006 following pension reforms that sparked a public outcry.
A dozen protesters were detained on Tuesday after demonstrating outside the Japanese Embassy in Moscow against the possibility of handing over the islands.
Mr. Abe hopes he can sweeten the deal by boosting Japanese business in Russia’s vast Far East, the far-flung Pacific territory where Moscow is trying to increase investment and living standards after decades of relative neglect.
Japan promised 1.16 billion rubles ($17.5 million) for the creation of a storage center for radioactive waste, Russian state news agencies reported. Still, unlike China’s leadership—which can make deals and promise private investment with the stroke of a pen—Japan has a tougher job selling investment in Russia to its business elite, which has been turned off by sanctions imposed by the West and slow growth.
Domestic factors in Russia have also played against the odds of a quick deal. Mr. Putin’s approval ratings among Russians have fallen to their lowest since 2006 following pension reforms that sparked a public outcry.
A dozen protesters were detained on Tuesday after demonstrating outside the Japanese Embassy in Moscow against the possibility of handing over the islands.
- January 23, 2019
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